


Fire When Ready

by BloodFrost



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), kylux - Fandom
Genre: Armitage Hux - Freeform, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Evil Space Boyfriends, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Mush, Gay, Gay Male Character, General Hux - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, IN SPACE!, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Kylo Ren - Freeform, Kylux - Freeform, Love, M/M, Protective Kylo Ren, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Same Sex Relationship, Short & Sweet, Short Story, Soft Kylux, Space Gays, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) - Freeform, Star Wars-All Media Types - Freeform, Starkiller Base, Sweet, The First Order, The Force Awakens, kylux trash, supreme leader snoke - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 20:05:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12116250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodFrost/pseuds/BloodFrost
Summary: The ultimate super weapon, Starkiller, is nearing completion. Everybody is excited when told that a test run of the weapon will be executed in a few days, with none other than General Hux at the helm.Everybody excited, that is, except Hux himself.He has numerous worries and concerns over this bloody terror of a weapon, and is reluctant to be the one to fire it.Luckily for him, he has something at home that helps him combat his inner strife and stress.





	Fire When Ready

Hux stood under the hot water of the refresher for quite some time, letting the heat soothe his aching muscles.

"Hux, are you alive?"

Hux sighed and shut off the water. He peeked outside of the curtain, not at all surprised to find Kylo standing there, staring at him.

Kylo really didn't have much of a concept of privacy, or personal space. Either that, or he simply didn't care. But regardless of his flaws, he was actually rather pleasant to have around when Hux felt bad, like he did now. In spite of the fact that outside of these walls he was a callous, temperamental jerk, in here, alone, he was quite calm, and sweet, and nurturing.

"Hand me a towel, please."

Kylo handed him a towel and Hux wrapped it securely around his waist before stepping out. They had been together for some time now, but even so, Hux still felt remarkably uncomfortable and self-conscious with his body.

"You were in here a long time," Kylo said, using his sleeve to wipe away the steam from the mirror. He began fiddling with his hair as he talked. "Are you sick or something?"

Hux shook his head, and began to brush his teeth. "Not sick, sore. The hot water helps some."

Kylo stopped messing with his hair and looked at Hux with concern. "You're in pain right now?"

Hux spit the toothpaste into the sink and rinsed his mouth. "It's not that bad. No big deal."

Kylo immediately bent down and swooped Hux off of his feet.

"What are you doing?", Hux protested.

"I'm going to carry you into your room. You're in pain, I'm going to help."

"I said I was sore, not that I'm incapable of walking," Hux said grumpily; but he couldn't help but smile. Kylo was so strong, and being in his arms was strangely, secretly exhilarating. 

Kylo sighed, but he didn't loosen his grip. "Nonsense, Hux. If you're in pain, you can't be trusted to know where your best interests lie."

He carried Hux down the hall and into the bedroom, setting him gently on the edge of the bed. He went to Hux's dresser and pawed out a pair of pajama bottoms, handing them to him.

"You change," he said, heading towards the door, "And I'll make you some tea, okay?"

He understood how Hux felt about Kylo seeing him naked at any time other than love-making, and tried to be respectful of that, even though he didn't really understand it.

Unlike Hux, Kylo was not in the least self-conscious about his body. He felt perfectly comfortable stripping down completely, and holding a normal conversation while he did so.

Hux, while watching him, often felt overwhelmed. He tried not to let on but he thought Kylo was the most attractive thing he had ever seen, and he had to really stop himself from staring at the skin, the muscles, the _everything_. Kylo always slept in his shorts, but sometimes even that felt like too much clothing to Hux. He wanted to feel that sultry flesh, ALL of it, pressed against him in the deepest reaches of the night. He wanted it, but their relationship (and his own shyness) hadn't progressed enough for him to speak up and TELL Kylo this. So the shorts remained in place, much to Hux's disdain.

Kylo came back in with his tea, handing the cup to him carefully. He watched him sip at it a few moments before speaking up.

"So Snoke tells me that you get to fire the weapon in a few days, on Fasir?"

Hux nodded, briefly closing his eyes.

"You--you must be excited?"

When Hux didn't answer, Kylo went on:

"It's just, I know you and your men have been working on it for so long. I imagine you're eager to test it."

Hux closed his eyes and set the cup down. He curled up on his side, facing away from Kylo.

"Oh, yes; really excited. Absolutely thrilled."

Kylo sensed his sarcasm, and reached out timidly to rub his back. 

"You're worried about something, I can feel it. Are you scared the weapon won't work? That it's not ready?"

Hux shook his head and buried his face in his forearm. When he spoke, his voice came out thick and muffled.

"No, I'm not worried about that. I know it's ready, and I know that it will work. Likely it will work even better than expected, Kylo. Better than even Snoke could have dreamed."

Kylo kept rubbing Hux's back, and listening hard to the spaces between his words. 

Normally, for him, reading minds and sensing feelings was ridiculously simple. But with Hux, it was different. Hux was both smarter, and more complex, than the average person that Kylo encountered. Anything that Kylo could pick up from him was confusing, and layered. It wasn't exactly a comfortable state of being, to Kylo, to actually have to open his mouth and ASK what someone was thinking, or feeling.

Yet this is what he always ended up doing, in the General's presence.

"But you ARE concerned about something," Kylo began, gently. "I wish you'd tell me what it is."

"If I told you, you would think there's something wrong with me."

"'Wrong with you'?", Kylo repeated, temporarily taking his hand off Hux's back. "I had really hoped that, by now, you'd know me better than that. I love you very much, and I wish you'd tell me things. Whatever you're worried about, maybe I can help."

Hux slowly turned himself around, and faced him.

"I don't want to fire the weapon," Hux said in a low voice, sounding ashamed. "I didn't want this thing built, and I want nothing to do with it."

Kylo was silently thoughtful, taking in what Hux had said. Finally, he asked,

"Why?"

"I don't know. Lots of things. Tiny things. The biggest thing of all is, I feel we're repeating too much of the mistakes of the Imperial empire. As you recall, they had not one, but two, Death Stars, and this, our Starkiller, is really nothing more than a glorified Death Star."

He sat up and took a sip of his tea before continuing.

"And I feel that it's dangerous. Drawing energy from the sun requires an astounding use of power and resources and credits, and I feel that all that we expend in this one weapon could be used in countless other, more productive ways."

"Like what?"

"Building up our military reserves. Expanding the naval and air fleet. Investing in better training and living quarters for the men. Upgrading our hand held weapons arsenal. Lots of things."

Kylo thought about what Hux was saying.

"Have you ever told any of this to Snoke?"

Hux nodded. "I have. I've been in his ear about it since before the thing was fully conceptualized. But my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. And now the thing is done, and I'm expected to be at the helm of it. It--it just all feels like it went too fast. Five years but it was still too fast."

Kylo crawled closer to Hux and began massaging his back again.

"No wonder you're in pain," he said soothingly.

"What do you mean?"

"Stress can lead to physical pain. It's why I spend so much time in meditation each day, to clear all the worries from my mind."

"Does it work, for you?"

Kylo shrugged and continued to rub. His touch was firm and warm, and Hux was beginning to feel much better.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on how much I'm worried about at any given time."

Hux sighed and leaned back further into Kylo. He grabbed both of his massaging hands and pulled them around his waist in an embrace.

"Let's not talk about this anymore, okay?"

Kylo leaned over and kissed Hux's forehead. 

"Okay. So what do you want to do?"

"Let's watch a holofilm. I have a new one; it's supposed to be scary."

"That sounds good, Hux. You set it up; I'm going to go and get something from my quarters. I'll be back before you know it."

He eased backwards from Hux and positioned him against the pillows. He gave him the holomote and another kiss on the forehead, and quickly left.

Hux started the film and began to watch, pulling the blanket up over himself. 

At some point or other, he must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes again the room was darker, and the film had ended.

Hux sat up and groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Kylo? Where are you?"

Kylo came into the room from the refresher, a towel wrapped around his head.

"I hope you don't mind I used the shower."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful, I didn't want to bother you."

Hux smiled got out of bed, stretching.

"Maybe a nap was all I needed; my back feels better."

Hungry, he started to leave the room to head into his kitchen. But Kylo once again swept his legs out from under him and picked him up, carrying him. 

"Precautionary measures, you understand," Kylo told him with a smirk, before setting him in a chair. "What do you want to eat?"

Kylo meant well, but he was really a very poor chef. So Hux asked him just to make him a simple sandwich, which he did, as well as one for himself. 

As they ate, Kylo asked Hux questions about his day.

Hux appreciated it, more than Kylo realized, being asked about his horribly tedious days. He had never in his life had someone to come home to that he could talk to about things, _all_ things, big and small, that had occurred. Like signing requisition forms. Or planning a remodel of recruit barracks. Or the fight he had had to diffuse between two Captains on the training grounds.

All of these things were horribly dull to Hux; but talking about them to Kylo gave them a breath of new life.

Still, Hux preferred to listen to Kylo talk about his own day.

He was still in awe, a little bit, over Kylo's amazing Force abilities. He told him things and demonstrated things for him that felt like they shouldn't be possible for mortals to accomplish. Although, some of the things made Hux nervous.

Like the freezing.

Back, way back, when Kylo was learning how to freeze things into place, he had persuaded Hux to help him practice, after-hours. Getting his entire body frozen in place, being unable to do much as turn his head or wiggle or little finger, was absolutely terrifying. But that wasn't what scared him the most.

Kylo had also insisted that Hux take his blaster and fire shots directly at him at point-blank range. Hux had done so, barely able to control his pounding heart and shaky hand, and aiming for the shoulder.

He was scared, but Kylo had managed to stop every shot fired and hold it there for an indeterminate amount of time.

And that had been mildly fascinating, to see a single fiery bolt held in mid-air, hissing and sparking.

But no matter what Kylo did, he always acted as though everything was unimpressive and even boring to him. Hux wasn't sure whether that resulted from apathy or humility, but the results were the same either way.

After they finished eating, Kylo asked him if he wanted to stay up a while or go back to bed. Hux said he thought he'd do some stuff on his data pad from the bedroom.

So, for the third time, Kylo lifted up the protesting General and carried him back into the bedroom.

"I guess I should be going--?", Kylo said uncertainly after a little while. Hux just looked up at him and rolled his eyes. 

For some reason, Kylo still didn't seem to comprehend that Hux liked it when he stayed the night with him. More than 'liked', actually; sometimes he downright NEEDED him to be there. His physical presence provided a comfort that Hux desperately wanted, and certainly needed.

"I don't think my back is quite up to tackling anybody, but if you don't get into this bed, I'll do it."

So Kylo stripped down (except, of course, for _the shorts_ , and crawled in next to Hux. He pressed against him and put his arms around him.

"Oh, Hux, you're still worried?", he asked, as the feeling hit him full in the chest.

Hux just nodded and put down his data pad. He moved closer to Kylo and tucked his head into his chest.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't worry. This is part of my job, after all; I have no right to question or complain."

"Everything is going to be all right, okay? I promise. But in the meantime, relax. You're too young for all this stress."

Hux leaned up and kissed Kylo's beautiful, _beautiful_ lips.

"Have I told you that I love you, yet? Because I do."

Kylo smiled and bent his neck, laying his own kiss on Hux's lips.

"Love you too, Hux. More than you realize. Now relax, and go to sleep. Everything will look better in the morning."

So Hux just sighed and tried his hardest to relax himself. With Kylo holding him, it wasn't very hard.

He woke up again at some point, during the night. He was cold, and realized it was because Kylo wasn't in bed next to him.

He groggily lifted his head, and saw the light on under the refresher door.

He meant to stay awake and wait for him to come back, but his tiredness overcame him. He fell back asleep and stayed that way until morning.

When he awoke, Kylo's arms were nestled back around him, same as before.

\---

When Hux got to his office the next morning, he immediately knew that something was wrong. Several of his top aides were waiting for him, all with somber expressions.

When Hux questioned them, they told him, heavily, that there was something wrong with the super weapon.

Hux accompanied them down to the engineering room to take a look at the damage for himself.

He couldn't believe it.

The core reactor had been compromised, several chunks of steel and metal bindings were bent into unrecognizable shapes, and the primary central cannon was in three pieces.

"Sir, with the extent of the damage, both internal and external, I'm afraid that our men won't be able to get this safely up and running for at least another year."

Hux had to turn away, quickly, so that none of the men could see the smile that had leapt to his face.

He erased it as he turned back, and asked, sternly, "What happened? Have you reviewed the security cameras?"

"We tried, General, but all of the cameras inexplicably stopped working approximately between 0200 as 0400 this morning."

Hux nodded. "Very well. Get the engineers working again. I want a report of this incident on my desk by 1700 today, and another copy made up for the Supreme Leader."

His men nodded, and Hux turned and went back to his office. His head was swirling with surprise and delight.

Another year.

That was surely enough time for him to figure out _something_ to do.

He sat at his desk and pulled out his data pad. He began to outline a proposal he wanted to make to Snoke, about the monetary benefits of putting the super weapon into retirement and using the funds elsewhere.

He was so into his planning that he didn't even notice that someone was standing in front of his desk, watching him, until that person spoke.

"General," said Lord Ren, from beyond his helmet. "I just heard about the accident with Starkiller. I'm terribly sorry to hear it."

Hux just barely kept the grin from his face, as he replied, "Thank you for your concern, Lord Ren, but everything will be fine."

Kylo nodded, and even with the helmet on, Hux could perfectly picture the smirk he was wearing.

"Of course. Well, I'll leave you to your work. I'll see you at the drill later."

Hux nodded, and Kylo turned around and left, whistling softly to himself.

Hux knew. He KNEW it had been Kylo who had craftily snuck into the engineering room, disabled the cameras, and undoubtedly used the Force to dismantle so much of the weapon. He had told Hux not to worry, that everything was going to be fine, and then he had fixed the problem the best way he knew how.

Hux turned back to his data pad and saved what he had worked on so far, before opening up a new blank document.

Thinking of Kylo, he began smiling harder than he knew himself capable of.

He had _another_ proposal that he needed to work on.


End file.
